We just posted on the use of boulders, rocks, and stones as landscape design elements. Here is a maintenance customer that implemented that idea on a grand scale!
But first, let’s take a look at what our maintenance crews can do. Here are photos from a month or so back of the front lawn after the blistering heat of this past summer took its toll.
After a good bit of work, here is the front yard now.
Great work, guys!
Note the strategic placement of a decorative rock at the front steps. This is a motif you will see as we go around the house, rocks, stones, and boulders (!) of various sizes and colors complementing the installed trees, plants, and shrubs.
A preliminary note: this is a regular maintenance customer. We did not install this plant material; the landscape plan and installation was done by the previous and current owner. So some of the plant identifications you see here will be tentative.
Across the front we have a flat boulder nestled amidst a mixed-evergreen foundation planting – a row of rounded Boxwoods (Buxus), possibly Green Velvet or Winter Gem varieties, and (tentatively) a Dwarf Alberta Spruce and Dwarf Golden Barberry. The tall, upright, broadleaf evergreen with glossy leaves is possibly an Indian Hawthorn.
These are Little Gem Magnolias along the driveway, providing some nice screenage.
Beside the carport are Dwarf Boxwoods (Buxus), set in irregular beige stone mulch.
Heading down the path to the back yard we pass a beautiful, mature crape myrtle in irregular variegated stone mulch. Identification without the blooms is hard, but the bark pattern indicates it could be either ‘Natchez’ or ‘Tuscarora’, both of which are known for their attractive, peeling bark that reveals shades of cinnamon or reddish tones. ‘Natchez’ however is often lighter and mottled, so the richer reddish-brown hues indicate it is likely a ‘Tuscarora.’
Shoring up the ground under the Crape Myrtle is a large boulder at the edge of the patio complex.
The patio comprises a sitting area, a fire pit, and shuffle board court, with a large boulder and rock formation anchoring the far corner. A specimen Japanese privet (Ligustrum Japonicum) presents on the Lake side of the patio. Along the edge of the patio are a row of shaped Boxwoods (Buxus) and an Emerald Green Arborvitae, all set in irregular variegated stone mulch and boulders.
The Lake access drive adjacent the patio is composed of some 12 tons of compacted tan/white washed river rock, and is bordered with a formidable line of boulders. Notice also the stone steps seemingly formed out of a random group of rocks and boulders.
Here is the back yard with a Lake access walkway bordered by stone on the uphill side to mitigate erosion and drainage across the walkway.
Overall design note: This is a classic mixed-evergreen series of plantings, with a unique use of boulders, rocks, and stones adding a natural esthetic to the landscape. Almost all landscape plantings are low-maintenance, deer-resistant, and tolerate well the heat/humidity of our North Carolina climate.
Fahlbusch Fallbush Fahlbush Marion Alston site
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